The Mirrormoor Crown Crates have some player cosmetics which indirectly (or directly) reference our latest two Companions, Zerith-var and Tanlorin. In particular, we are now able to wear the hair style and face/body markings that Tanlorin uses (the quote for the High Elven Instigator hair style is from Tanlorin directly), and the Rajaska's Snarl Face Tattoos indirectly reference the Order of the Hidden Moon, which Zerith-var was a member of.

For me, this is huge. Our Companions can have their unique cosmetics made available for players! Many Companions use hair styles and face/body markings which are already available in-game, such as how Ember uses the Dread Turban Bun hair style which is available to all Khajiit characters at character creation. It's really nice to see new cosmetics be showcased on a Companion first because it can have a special attachment to that character, as is the case with Tanlorin and their hair style. It makes the cosmetic special once we get to know this Companion.

I want to see future Companions have unique cosmetics like these, and I'd love if those unique cosmetics referenced that Companion in some way. This makes our Companions feel like they exist outside of just their questline.

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This method of introducing new cosmetics via Companions first could be an interesting way to introduce some other kinds of cosmetics, such as Skill Styles.


We know that future Companions may repeat Classes and share skills, as Bastian Hallix and Tanlorin are both Dragonknights and share some skills like Kindle. As it stands, both Bastian's Kindle and Tanlorin's Kindle function the exact same way and they look identical, as you'd expect. Maybe future Companions could have "Skill Styles" applied by default to make the VFX of their skills stand out from one another and from players.

If players see their Companions casting an ability in a unique color, maybe they'll want to acquire that same Skill Style, too. It could even be explained as this Companion discovering a new way to cast the same spells. Said Skill Style could be acquired from the Companion's questline or from the Crown Store, as is the case here.


Further, what if we eventually get a Werewolf Companion? What fur color will they have? If the goal in Companion character design is to give them a unique appearance to highlight their individuality as characters, then they ought to have a unique appearance for both their human form and their werewolf form; otherwise they'd just look like generic clones. Their Werewolf form appearance could be inspired by the following, for instance:
This is where Skill Styling comes into play. A Skill Style for Werewolf Transformation is the equivalent of a Skin (if it's a texture swap/fur color change), a Face/Body Marking (if it's an overlay, like tattoos on the brown/white/black fur color of your morph of Werewolf Transformation), or a Polymorph (if it changes your model completely, like to a different werebeast or to an undead/skeletal werewolf). A Companion's Werewolf form can have a unique appearance not seen before, and that can be given a player equivalent via utilizing the Skill Styling system.

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So, in summary, the fact that our Companions can have unique cosmetics made just for them, and players can acquire those cosmetics and read a quote said by those very same Companions, is really, really cool. I hope we continue to get more references to our Companions, and I hope our future Companions will have unique cosmetics that players can eventually acquire.
@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_JessicaFolsom